Summary:Schiro was an inmate at a halfway house
in Evansville for those about to be released from prison.
Schiro was serving a 3 year suspended sentence for
Robbery (C Felony). Schiro went to the home of Laura
Luebbehausen and gained entrance on the pretext that he
had car trouble and needed to use the telephone. Once
inside Schiro used the bathroom with permission, exposed
himself, and assured Luebbehausen that she need not fear
because he was "gay." During the conversation,
Luebbehausen revealed that she had been sexually abused
as a child and was a lesbian. Over the next few hours,
Luebbehausen would be raped repeatedly. Schiro then took
her to get more liquor and upon return raped her a third
time then passed out. When Schiro awoke, he found
Luebbehausen headed out the door. He dragged her to the
bedroom. When he thought she was asleep, he beat her with
a vodka bottle, then an iron, then strangled her to
death. He then dragged her body into another room and
sexually assaulted the corpse. He straightened up the
house before leaving. Leubbehausen's car was found
abandoned near the Halfway House two days later. Schiro
received the assistance of Halfway house employees in
falsifying documents showing his whereabouts, but later
confessed to a counselor, and to his girlfriend who he
visited just after the murder.

An insanity defense
was presented at trial. No less than 5 experts testified
at trial, None of which gave an opinion that Schiro was
insane at the time of the crime. The jury returned a
verdict against a Death Sentence after less than 1 hour
deliberations. Judge Samuel L. Rosen sentenced Schiro to
death anyway, noting that Schiro had constantly rocked
back and forth throughout the trial, but only in front of
the jury.

Scheduled to be released in 2007, Schiro was charged on May 23, 2005 in Vanderburgh County with two counts of Rape, based upon sexual assaults committed in 1980. Jury Trial is scheduled for August 28, 2006 in Clark County after a Change of Venue.